Have a look at the comments attached to Terry Sweetman’s story in The Courier-Mail, ‘Drug epidemic makes us sick.’
Specifically, see comment #1, where the writer purports to be Paul Dillon, the Media Liason Officer/Information Manager of NDARC:
I have been asked to reply to this story and give my views on drug abuse and the lives and futures it can take with it.
I am Head Information Officer at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney (soon to be Deputy Health Minister if we all keep our votes for Liberal) and I have done extensive research on this topic and believe that some drugs CAN be used recreationally with little to no troubles, but only for a short time and everyone drug-using lifespan must end at one point. Be it gaol for drug related crimes such as ongoing possessions, drug and drunk driving and causing an accident, dealing or trafficking drugs for money to support the habit, or death from an overdose or extreme malnutrition or simply quitting drugs. There is no future at all in taking drugs. Especially Ecstasy which is often laced with horse tranquilisers, PMA (a deadly hallucinogenic amphetamine), cocaine, heroin, ice, crushed glass (to make the pill absorb faster by cutting the lining of the stomach), hydrochloric acid, cement mixer, and other life-threatening products. Pure Ecstasy can also and does kill on a weekly basis across Australia, especially the liquid form called Fantasy or Liquid Ecstasy which is commonly used to clean concrete and melt metals.
Cannabis has recently shown to cause psychosis from as little as one joint, and ecstasy is mostly the killer drug PMA and crushed glass with little to no MDMA (pure ecstasy) in the tablet. Heroin is mostly cheese (over the counter sickness tablets crushed to a powder mixed with Panadeine Stong Pain and only the hard core addicts are still injecting it, moving onto the deadly designer drug Ice which is like speed, but much more dangerous.
All these drugs, even marijuana causes people to steal to support their habit, and 98% of house break ins ARE drug related as this article says.
I think it is time to finally shut down the injecting room, needle exchanges and any harm reduction programs as they have clearly failed us since the mid 80’s. Bring on Zero Tolerance for Junkies.
Posted by: Paul Dilon of Sydney 4:10pm August 05, 2007
The real Paul Dillon is a well spoken and respected writer for NDARC. Unlikely that Dillon would have written any of the above- nor would have typoed his own name.
Sounds an awful lot more like the infamous Gary Christian of Drug Free Australia, a zero-tolerance ideologue who is well known for filling the inboxes of politicians with such unsubstantiable and evidence-free conclusions about drugs, normally similar to those as published in the comment in question.
Regardless, no one at Ltd News tried to contact Mr Dillon to confirm that these were his words.
So someone else near and dear to me did:
Subject: Re: Your comment?
From: Paul Dillon <p.dillon@unsw.edu.au>Nope – nothing to do with me! I better contact someone and get it removed
,,,,,,, you’d think someone would check something like this!Many thanks for letting me know – much appreciated.
Paul
Sent from the blackberry device.
Faculty of Medicine, UNSW.
I’ve tried numerous times to post a comment to Terry Sweetman’s story, exposing the fraud. The Ltd News webmaster/s will not publish my comment- and they haven’t seen fit to confirm authorship with Dillon nor retract the comment* from “Dilon,” either.
Defamation isn’t free speech. Defaming sure hasn’t been free for Noise Ltd, which seem to pay out a lot of dough for irresponsible reportage- but it’s all chump change to a fellow who just coughed up $5bil for Dow Jones Publishing and the Wall St Journal. No one will be teaching Rupert Murdoch any lessons with monetary damages winnings.
Therefore, public opinion about drugs and harm minimisation is what Rupe tells the public it is, truth and scientific evidence notwithstanding.
-weez
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Dillon complained to The Courier-Mail about being impersonated- the CM pulled the hoax comment. No apology, no acknowledgment, but worst, no change in their practises of verification of commenter identity.
Comment by weez 08.08.07 @ 10:32 pmLeave a comment
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